Chapter 38: Materials

Chapter 38: Materials

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

Materials

The next two weeks passed in a blur of focused effort. I didn't need sleep and thus my mother's schedule left no time for me to rest. I trained in a cycle of focused mental and physical effort that never stopped, merely growing as my mother added to it, expanding to new skills as others grew.

I bore it all without complaint, even when my body felt like it had been broken. I never stopped, never gave up, but merely rose again to keep going, stronger than before. The world almost seemed to slip away in the midst of it all, stripped down to the need to improve, the need to continue, until things like the time or the date just didn't seem to matterbut in time, life intervened. When duty called my parents to the city, they brought me along to give me a reprieve, an hour or two off from work, and let me wander the city and relax; a reward for working so hard, perhaps.

Or maybe they were just worried about the strain they were putting upon me, afraid I might break. If so, I didn't share the fear, but taking a little time off didn't seem too bad, though it probably said something about me that I didn't waste it. After a quick trip to the market, I went to address something I'd been unable to until now.

"Jaune?" Tukson asked, seeming surprised when he came to the front desk and saw me perusing his wares.

"Hey, Tukson," I greeted, looking up from what I was Observing a book, a shopping bag in one hand. Looking up at my elder friend, I rested the bag carefully atop a bookshelf. "You been doing okay?"

"I was going to ask you that," He replied, shoulders sagging after a minute as he seemed to take in that I was really here. "Witheverything that happened. Blake told me you got back okay, butthings got pretty bad, huh? I'mwell, I'm sorry. I didn't think"

"Nah, don't worry about it," I cut him off with a smile. "It's no problem. Your books saved my life a few times, you know? And you got my messages through, too, sothanks. I wanted to come tell you that earlier, but wellthings have been busy."

"With your family, right?" He asked, seeming somewhat cheered by my reassurances, though his brow furrowed slightly. "Everything go okay?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Better then I'd hoped. My parents were really cool and understanding. I mean, I knew that before, but it's likewell, you know."

"I do," He nodded, going quiet as he looked down at something on his desk. "They're your family. You want to make them proud, even whenespecially when it's hard, right?"

We were silent for a moment of semi-awkward mutual understanding before he lifted his head and gave me a smile.

"Must be difficult, huh?" He asked, brushing the moment aside. "Ithat homecoming must have been something. I mean, when I first went to your house and realized who your parents wereDon't take this the wrong way, but after Ziz, I, uh, took a brief vacation to one of the White Fang's hideouts. Mostly because of the horrific monster, but, not gonna lie, there was a part of me worried about getting murdered when your parents made the connection. I came back to deliver your message and stayed to help the newcomers, but, wellit's still kind of nerve-wracking."

I hummed understandingly.

"I don't blame you," I told him, pretty sure it had been a good move. If he'd stayedwell, it probably wouldn't have ended well for him. "I tried leaving the stuff about you guys out when I explained things to them, but"

"But I came over just awhile before you vanished," He finished, nodding. "Not the hardest connection to make, but I figured you'd smooth that over when you came back. And hey, no police here, right? That's pretty good, all things considered."

"Definitely," I agreed. "But I meant it when I said your books and such saved me. I'mI'm sorry I couldn't do things as peacefully as we'd hoped, though. Things got"

"Hectic?" He suggested, sighing as he rested his hands on the counter. "Iyeah, I know. I saw some of it. Between Torchwick and Adam getting surroundedI get it. The people still got saved, though, right? That's the important thing. We wanted to give new beginnings andwell, all told, we had about a thousand successes. Compared to that"

He trailed of, shrugging a shoulder. His words were reassuring, probably because I agreed with them, but I had to wonder if he did. In the end, we'd all had our own reasons. For me, it had always been about the people who needed my help and who didn't have anyone else to save thembut for Tukson and Blake, it had been about even more than that. They wanted to show the White Fang another way, show them that things didn't have to end in violence and bloodshed, and had recruited me to help them prove it.

And I'd held a girl hostage, threatened people, fired on my pursuers, drawn out the Grimm, accidentally awoke Ziz, and all around brutally crushed anyone who stood between me and rescuing the miners, even when it meant tearing someone limb from limb. There was more too it then that, I hadn't wanted or meant for it to happen, and I'd avoided hurting people as much as possiblebut I'd also succeeded. At stealing a super ship out from under the nose of some of the most powerful men on Remnant, at the most high-profile theft and rescue in recent memory, in every fight, I'd succeeded. What message did that send?

And the worst part wasI wasn't sure how to feel about it. I regretted the necessity of the actions, yet I was proud of the result. I felt bad for failing Blake and Tukson, butAdam had told me outright that he didn't think the peaceful methods Blake desired would work, that they hadn't worked, for social and political and economic reasons that were kind of depressing. Was he right? Or, more worryingly, did I think he was right?

I hoped he wasn't, I was sure of that much. I hoped Blake was correct and there was some peaceful way to deal with all of this. I didn't want it to come to violence and I couldn't support the things the White Fang did.

But with their situation so bad, with what I'd seen, with the countless other examples throughout the world, with all that happened to the FaunusI couldn't condemn them, either. I couldn't hate them for fighting what was done to them, even if I could hate the bloodshed it led to. I couldn't loathe them for picking methods that seemed to work, even if I was saddened by the methods that had failed.

More than anything else, I wanted there to be a better way, but I couldn't think of one. I wanted to be able to do something, but I didn't know how. A part of me wondered if I'd know when my Wisdom reached a hundred, but an even larger part worried that there just wasn't an answer to be found. It was easy to say the world had problems that needed to be fixed, but evidence would seem to support the conclusion that no one had actually done it yet.

I sighed.

"You mentioned the newcomers were moving in. Is everything going okay? Any trouble with housing or jobs or?" I tried to change the subject, attempting to pull myself from the thoughts.

"It's difficult getting that many people situated," He admitted. "But all things considered, it's going pretty well. Things are better for Faunus here in Vale."

Maybe it was because of what we'd just talked about, but a pessimistic part of me wondered if that was true and things really were betteror if they were just closer to people who'd firebomb your house for bigotry.

"Thanks to some help from locals, a lot of them have already found work," Tukson continued, oblivious to my thoughts. "There's always stuff to be done in the Agricultural District and it's a pretty good way to get by if you're new in townspeaking from experience. It's a lot of hard work, but it pays pretty well and after what they've all been throughwell, I think they find that a pretty novel concept."

"Probably," I agreed, brightening a tad at the words. "I awakened their Auras so they should be okay. Actually, this sort of leads into why I'm here."

Tukson squinted at me for a moment.

"You looking for another part time job?" He asked. "Because with your track record, I don't know if the Agricultural District would survive employing you. Please, think of all the Faunus who need the work and all the people who need the food."

"Hah," I laughed tonelessly. "Very funny, but no. I'm just looking for some books on the subject; I'm working on something."

"Yeah?" He asked, coming around the desk and down a line of shelves. He paused for a moment, fingertips brushing spines, and frowned. "What kind of something? And do you want gardening or farming?"

"I honestly don't know the difference," I admitted. "Both, I guess, because why not? I'm gonna try awakening the Auras of plants."

Tukson paused, blinking as he turned to face me.

"What?" He asked. "Why?"

"To see what happens, I guess," I answered honestly. "And to train myself but, honestly, at this point I just really want to know what'll happen. A lot of people down in Ag have tried it and had a lot of trouble, so I kind of want to know how it'll work if I try. If I get a skill out of it, it should tell me exactly what it doesand even if it doesn't, Observe should show me the results. I had the idea weeks ago but was so busyit's been bothering me, you know?"

He considered that for a minute before passing me the books.

"Now I'm curious," Tukson shook his head, taking the money I withdrew from my Inventory. "But also kind of hoping that future generations won't condemn me for whatever happens."

"We all worry about that sometimes," I assured, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"No we don't," He denied. "Well, maybe you do, but I mainly just worry about my books and sales. Need anything else?"

I chuckled a bit but checked the clock.

"Not today, I don't think," I said, shaking my head. "I'll need to get back to my parents in just a bit here and this should keep me busy enough for now. I don't suppose there's been any word from Adam and Blake?"

He shook his head.

So what the hell would it mean for a plant? Would it just make it grow to adulthood? What if I kept using it? If it reached adulthood at level, say, two, what would happen if I raised it to level ten? Or even higher?

Beyond that, converting MP directly to experience sounded really amazingand it was, to an extent. But at level thirty, I now required millions and millions of experience points to go up a level, which translated towell, a lot of MP. The skill was only level one so the conversion ratio might change, but

Well, even so, I was surprised by the existence of such a skill. Was it limited to plants? Balance-wise, I guess it would make sense if the use of such a skill was limited to things that were normally immobile and mindless, butmy power wasn't usually balanced. Still, I certainly hadn't found a way to use such a skill on myselfdid that mean anything? Or

I sighed and shook my head. I loved my power, truly I did, but sometimes I wished it came with an instruction manual or something.

Still, instead of wondering pointlessly, why not just see for myself? First off

"Observe," I said focusing on the plant.

Race: Rose

Sex: N/A

Level: 1 Next LV: 00.0

Age: 1

STR: 0 DEX: 0

VIT: 2 INT: 0

WIS: 1 LUCK: 15

Specials: Animasynthesis (Passive).

Points: 0

Not really surprising for a rose, I guessed, except for the Luck. The only thing that stood out about it was

I tapped its special ability.

Animasynthesis (Passive)

The absorption of shed Aura (MP) as a form of sustenance. For every point of Aura spent nearby, gain one experience point.

Range: 1 meter.

"Huh" I mused, frowning. "But is that a Semblance or just something normal for awakened plants"

Either waywould that mean it'd get double experience for each point I gave it? Already, I was thinking of ways to make use of such an abilitybecause I certainly spent enough MP to make such an ability useful. A meter wasn't that great range-wise, but there were ways around that. If I perhaps wore the plantI'd need to set it up carefully, but I could heal and sustain it, so there should be a wayperhaps if I attached it to my armor? If it absorbed the MP I burnt on a daily basis, it'd grow very quickly indeed. I had no idea what growing would do for it, but it was a tempting idea. In a normal game, I'd assume there'd be some benefit, like some hidden bonus reward to getting it high enough or some special power. HereI had no way of knowing and the skill itself didn't give an ability to actually control plants, but I could make use of this somehow, I was sure. An Elemental, perhaps, or maybe

I was getting ahead of myself. I shook my head again, focusing as I reached out to touch it and feed it my powerand then hesitated once more.

"No," I murmured. "If I'm going to do this, then why not"

Why not go all the way? Or at least try to? I could test the alternative later, but why not see how ridiculous this ability could be?

"Create Party," I said, continuing once the window had appeared. "Invite Rose."

I was sure if 'Rose' would be enough, but a window appeared in front of the plant, fading an instant later as the rose entered my party. I guess creatures that couldn't make the choice for themselves automatically consented to party invites?

And with it in my party

"Green Thumb," I said, pouring most of my remaining MP into the rose. It shook for a moment before suddenly sprouting, twisting, and growing larger and larger. Roots speared through the plastic cup around it and shifted the bag as flowers blossomed and spread. Thorny stems fell to hang from the shelf, reachingalmost graspingbut finding little else to cling to.

Left Blooming Alone

LV. 2

?

I looked at its profile again and smiled in satisfaction.

"Okay," Tukson mused. "Mildly less anticlimactic. Still kind of disappointing, though."

"Just wait," I said, smiling as I pulled the bag up around the plant's sides. It was far too big to fit completely inside of it anymore, but it made carrying it a bit easier even though I had to channel aura to keep it from punching holes through it. "I'm interested, now. I've got no idea what this means, much less what it could do, and I want to find out."

Tukson sighed.

"Justtell me if it starts eating people so I have a chance to run away, okay?" He asked.

"Bah," I said. "You'd never escape. Before long, it'll be a higher level then you are."

"Wait, what?" Tukson asked, suddenly frowning. "No. What? You're joking, right?"

I chuckled and picked up my new project before turning to go.

"We'll get you to level twelve in no time, baby," I told it, smiling down at it. "See you later, Tukson."

The book trader sighed loudly, shaking his head, but he waved goodbye as I unlocked the door and left.

"I'll call you if I hear anything from our friends," He said, lifting his voice as I went.

"Thanks!" I shouted back, closing the door with a foot. My hands were full of the thorny plant, but looking down at it, I couldn't keep my smile from widening. "Left blooming alone, huh?"

My voice was softer now, gentle even though it probably couldn't understand anything I said.

"That's a pretty sad title for such a beautiful flower," I continued. "But I guess it's not the season for you, is it? Still, instead of being alonewhy not spend some time with me? And maybelet's see if we can find some more friends, okay?"

The rose shifted slightly, even though there was no wind.